UN Security Council members to visit Palestine

All members of the UN Security Council have accepted an invitation to visit the occupied Palestinian territory except the US, PLO observer to the UN Riyad Mansour said Thursday. The US is still considering the visit but all other countries in the 15-member council have confirmed they will send delegations, Mansour told Ma'an. "The American delegation is studying the issue in Washington," he said. The US blocked a council visit to Palestine in 2011. The visit would be historic because the council has not visited Palestine for 30 years, Mansour said. But if Washington refuses to send a delegation, an informal visit will be arranged for the other council members, he added. Mansour sent a letter last month inviting Security Council members to visit the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem. "It is an appropriate time for members of the Security Council to see with their own eyes the reality on the ground in the occupied territory," Mansour told reporters on Feb. 28 after a council meeting on the Middle East. Israel's UN ambassador Ron Prosor criticized the invitation as "an attempt to try and divert attention" and avoid negotiations.